Page:Boys of the Fort.djvu/117

Rh life!" cried Joe. "I couldn't have done better in a bed at home."

"Nor I," returned his cousin. "I can tell you, sleeping in the open air when it doesn't rain is all right."

But when Darry got up on his feet he changed his tune. The fall of the day previous, combined with the night air, had made him woefully stiff, and it was a good half-hour before he became limbered up.

They found Captain Moore already stirring, and the kettle over the fire was boiling merrily. The captain himself was trying his luck at a brook not a great distance off.

"I saw some fish in here some weeks ago," he explained. "I thought I might get a couple for breakfast. But you lads will have to wait until I strike luck."

"I'm willing to wait," said Joe. "There is nothing to do, is there, until Benson gets back?"

"Nothing that I know of, unless you want to fish or go after some small game. I want to hear what he has to say. If the colonel won't let me stay out, I'll have to return to the fort to-night."

It did not take long for Captain Moore to land several good-sized specimens of the finny tribe, and these the boys took turns at preparing for eating, while the captain continued to fish. The